Miles Davis
Filles de Kilimanjaro

After the release of Nefertiti, Miles Davis began to push his quintet
towards a new and different sound. Having grown increasingly infatuated with the music of Sly and
the Family Stone, James Brown, and Jimi Hendrix, he began to incorporate a more rock-oriented style
into his own bandís compositions (even going so far as to paint an homage to the latterís The
Wind Cries Mary on this setís Mademoiselle Mabry). Davisí 1968 release Miles in the
Sky ushered in the new era, and when Filles de Kilimanjaro hit the streets later that
year, Davisí fans knew that, like it or not, change was in the air and that the jazz world was about
to undergo a radical transformation. Perhaps this was the reason Davis chose French titles for the
album as well as its five tracks; after all, the language was about as foreign to most American jazz
enthusiasts as the music that lay within the collectionís expansive suite of songs.

Yet, the full effect of Davisí new direction would not be felt for a little
while longer ó partly because Davis was still defining what it was he wanted to accomplish and
partly because the personnel were not yet in place. Thatís what made Filles de Kilimanjaro ó
much like the later released Water Babies ó so notable. It wasnít nearly as tentative as Miles in the Sky, yet it marked the dissolution of his second quintet as Chick Corea and Dave
Holland came on board to replace the departing Herbie Hancock and Ron Carter. As such, the ensemble
was clearly in a state of flux while shifting from a more traditional jazz style towards the
creation of the yet-to-be-named fusion movement.

Despite the turmoil, Filles de Kilimanjaro struck a near-perfect
balance between these two disparate positions. But where Water Babies formed its link by
drawing from recording sessions held nearly eighteen months apart, Filles de Kilimanjaroís
tracks simultaneously built this bridge while blowing it to smithereens. Indeed, a great deal of
Davisí and saxophonist Wayne Shorterís solo turns gravitated towards their pre-Nefertiti
days, even as drums, bass, and keyboards percolated wildly around them. As a result, the duo proved
to be beacons of light within the often chaotic maelstrom, illuminating the path towards more
familiar surroundings. Davis, of course, would go on to record finer jazz-fusion albums, but
sometimes, as in the case of Filles de Kilimanjaro, the process is as much fun to observe as
the final outcome. Ĺ